Agence France-Presse (AFP), via ABS-CBNNews.com, reports that lifeguard Tomas Lopez, 21, "was fired after rescuing a drowning man in a section of beach he was not assigned to patrol." According to the report, Lopez was at work on Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, Florida on Monday afternoon (July 2), when "a beach-goer alerted him to a swimmer struggling in an ’unprotected’ part of the beach."

The AFP story revealed that Lopez managed to save the man, "but when he went to file an incident report, he was fired for going 500 yards (meters) out of his assigned area." The report quoted Lopez, who related, "They didn’t tell me in a bad way. It was more like they were ’sorry, but rules are rules. I couldn’t believe what was happening."

AFP got hold of a supervisor for the private contractor that supplies lifeguards for Hallandale Beach, who explained, "We have liability issues and can’t go out of the protected area. What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do."